As many of you may have heard, the Alameda County District Attorney has charged Mark Danaj with felonies for embezzling $18,000 in city funds (on a city credit card for personal use) and misappropriation of funds. This makes it even more astounding that our local government chased the theft of $18,000 with another $360,000 in severance in taxpayer funds (when not required to per his hiring contract), and still will not comment about this or address the public.
City Council and Mayor Lily Mei are still hiding behind the bad faith, legally unenforceable NDA in his separation agreement, claiming it "prevents" them from speaking on this matter, even though per the Brown Act, a set of legal codes protecting the public's right to transparency in regards to local government, section 54959: "Each member of a leglislative body who attends a meeting of that legislative body where action is taken in violation of any provision of this chapter, and where the member intends to deprive the public of information to which the member knows or has reason to know the public is entitled under this chapter, is guilty of a misdemeanor."
Furthermore, the defense attorney for Mark Danaj against these charges is Danny O'Malley, who is the BROTHER of Alameda County District Attorney, Nancy O'Malley. She is the prosecutor in which her brother's client is the defendent. Not only is this a clear conflict of interest, but Nancy O'Malley is an endorsement listed on Lily Mei's state senate run website, meaning her ties to Lily Mei, who signed Danaj's separation agreement with bad faith NDA, call into question whether the DA can be fair and impartial in Danaj's trial, and willing to investigate further if there is evidence of corruption that implicates the Mayor.
URGENT! WHAT CAN WE DO:
1. Contact the Alameda County District Attorney's office:
You can call (510) 272-6222 or write -- info@alcoda.org -- to the Alameda County DA's office asking O'Malley to recuse herself in this case due to conflict of interest. Here is a sample letter template:
Dear Alameda County District Attorney's Office:
I am a resident of Fremont/Alameda County, and I am writing about the prosecution of felony charges currently pending in regards to former Fremont City Manager, Mark Danaj.
Given that Mr Danaj is being represented by Dan O'Malley, DA Nancy O'Malley's brother, we believe this represents a clear conflict of interest. Furthermore, DA O'Malley is publicly listed endorsing Fremont Mayor Lily Mei on her state senate run website, and as Mayor Mei and city council are currently hiding behind a bad faith NDA to prevent public transparency in regards to Mr Danaj's "resignation" and activities while employed. We are concerned that if there is evidence of corruption that potentially implicates mayor Lily Mei, if we can trust the DA's office to investigate further and fairly. We believe both these matters could seriously undermine the public trust in the integrity of the Alameda County District Attorney's office. We respectfully ask DA O'Malley to recuse herself and refer this case to another district attorney without a conflict of interest.
Regards,
[your name]
[your contact phone and/or email]
2. Please share this petition on social media and inform fellow Fremont residents about this issue. It is one thing to have a corrupt employee of the city, but the cover up on the part of our city officials hiding behind a bad faith NDA to deny transparency to their taxpayers begs the question, who knew what and when: Why was he hired, when he was fired for misappropriation of city funds at his previous job? Who knew about the embezzlement allegations and when? Why did they give him such a large severance when his hiring contract did not require it under the circumstances? Is this only the tip of the spear and there is more corruption/embezzlement/quid pro quo within our local government that the mayor and city council are working hard to keep the public from finding out?
The more people asking these questions and demanding answers, the more likely we will get answers.
Different article without a paywall:
https://www.svvoice.com/mark-danaj-former-santa-clara-employee-indicted-for-embezzlement/
3. Please write and ask friends and family to write to your councilmember (or all) to let them know this issue matters to you, and you want answers.
Teresa Keng, Councilmember District 1
tkeng@fremont.gov
Rick Jones, Councilmember District 2
rljones@fremont.gov
Jenny Kassan, Councilmember District 3
jkassan@fremont.gov
Yang Shao, Councilmember District 4
yshao@fremont.gov
Raj Salwan, Councilmember District 5
rsalwan@fremont.gov
Teresa Cox, Councilmember District 6
tcox@fremont.gov
Here's a template. Feel free to copy/paste and sign, edit, or write your own:
Dear Councilmember(s),
In light of the felony charges against Mark Danaj for embezzlement of city funds during his time as Fremont's City Manager, we believe that we the public have a right to transparency, per the Brown Act, to know why he was hired, despite his past history of being fired for misappropriating city funds, and why he was paid a severance, when his hiring contract didn't require it (his contract stipulates he would only receive severance if he resigned or if fired due to "willful misconduct"). We understand that Mayor Lily Mei and members of city council are not speaking to the public about this issue due to the NDA in Danaj's separation agreement, but we also believe this NDA violates the Brown Act, section 54959: "Each member of a leglislative body who attends a meeting of that legislative body where action is taken in violation of any provision of this chapter, and where the member intends to deprive the public of information to which the member knows or has reason to know the public is entitled under this chapter, is guilty of a misdemeanor."
We hope that you understand, as a publicly elected official, that your duty is to your community, that we elected you and trust you to be open and honest when it comes to issues of public welfare, particularly our city funds, which we pay for and which belongs to the people. We hope you will reconsider your position in this matter, and will demonstrate your commitment to public transparency, and government integrity by being open with your constituents on this matter.
Thank you,
[Your name]
[contact phone and/or email]
4. Potentially, if the letter writing and calling doesn't get answers, the residents of Fremont will need to legally challenge the NDA to invalidate it as a violation of the Brown Act so city council and the mayor will have no excuse to answer the public.
Is it sad that residents might need to resort to a lawsuit to have their own publicly elected officials talk to them? YES. But the only way to know how much taxpayer funding has been siphoned away and to stop it, is transparency. We are seeking a lawyer who may possibly help the citizens of Fremont pro bono, so if you know of one willing to help, please refer. Otherwise, we may possibly start a GoFundMe to raise money for a legal fund and retain one of the lawyers affiliated with the First Amendment Coalition, a non-profit organization fighting for transparency and integrity in government. Stay tuned, and please keep asking questions and holding our officials accountable!